


I'll Build You a Garden of Memories

by httpsung



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Fluff, Isshuukan Friends AU, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 17:11:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12089571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/httpsung/pseuds/httpsung
Summary: This fic is inspired by an anime I really enjoyed and I hoped it was enjoyable to read!





	I'll Build You a Garden of Memories

_Will you be my friend?_

_Can we be friends?_

These two lines were well rehearsed in the deepest depths of your mind and finally, you were going to work up the courage to spill either one to a person who deserved it most. He was a beautiful mystery, looming in a cloud of dark and heavy rain, avoiding the light that was everyone around him. His words, though few each time someone spoke to him, were often cold like his eyes, projecting a dreary overcast that refused to let the sunshine in. There was never a smile to decorate his pink lips, never a laugh to slip past them.  
The fact that his expression always remained aloof had you wondering if the boy you knew as Yoon Dowoon was void of all emotion, an empty shell just moseying his way through life. That had to be lonely, right?

_He’s so mean. He thinks he’s better than us. Yoon Dowoon is a waste of looks._

Your classmates were cruel with their speech and it frustrated you to hear such things when you knew they hadn’t put forth the effort to say something more than a simple _“hello”_ to the solitary boy. You, however, were going to be the person that said more than just “hi” and set a new goal the moment you found out he shared classes with you for the third year in a row.  
Dowoon was going to become your friend.  
You never understood what happened to him over the years, in the beginning of your high school life he seemed so popular, well known by every freshman and even the upperclassmen knew his name. As time went on those who hung out with him diminished to the point where hardly anyone looked his way, but maybe you could get him to look at you just once.  
It was a sunny afternoon, the lunch bell had just rung, signaling for seniors to go off to the cafeteria to enjoy lunch. Dowoon never showed himself during this time but you had an idea of where he might have gone every lunch period. You caught him sneaking off to the west corridor assuming he was heading to the school garden where a lonely tree stood tall among the flowers.  
You pre-packed a lunch from the night before, and though it was probably horrible in taste since you weren’t the best cook, you were determined to eat it while sitting side by side with him. You found Dowoon sitting under the tree in the garden, sandwich in hand as he kept his gaze on the moving clouds, he hadn’t noticed you approaching.  
“Um…” Your hesitant voice caught his attention, his dark eyes settling on you as you inched closer to him. His gaze made you nervous suddenly, you were so confident in approaching him a few minutes ago, but his eyes pierced you as though he was peering straight through your soul. You cleared your throat and your nervous thoughts, dropping your eyes to the ground.

“Hey Dowoon, I’m Y/n… from class.” That was stupid, he probably knew your name for being stuck in the same class together for so long. “I saw you sitting out here and it looked like you needed some company so here I am!” You spoke more confidently, lifting your gaze to meet his but found him gone. You turned around to see the boy walking away from you silently without giving you a second glance.  
You bit your lip and hurried after him, grabbing the sleeve of his sweater, making him turn to look at you. His stare sent chills slithering down your spine but you weren’t going to let the coldness he exuded freeze you.  
“I just want to be friends!” You blurted out your intentions so early on, making him raise his brows, painting a look of surprise on his sharp features. In that moment, you could feel the heat rising in your cheeks, awkwardness in the air as you cringed, waiting for his reply. Dowoon’s lips parted to mutter a simple “sorry” without explanation, leaving you a bit sad but even more curious to why he denied you so easily.  
This wasn’t the time to give up.  
The next day you found him in the same spot at the same time, eating another sandwich. You approached him and sat down, rustling through your brown paper bag for the Pb & j you made, biting into it with a hum.  
“The weather is so nice, today right?” You smiled while you ate, not ready to look over at him just yet. There was silence lingering until you heard him sigh, watching him put down his food. Dowoon turned his head to look at you, the wind lightly blowing his fringe.

“Listen Y/n….” He said this was the first time he had ever spoken your name.  
“I can’t be friends with you… it just can’t happen.” He stated, turning his attention away.  
After being rejected twice most people would just quit and deem him as the uncaring meanie who only worried about himself, but still there was a feeling deep down that urged you not to lose to his words.  
“I don’t understand why… but if it’s something you’re not comfortable in talking about then I won’t question why you can’t be friends with me.” You gave him a thin smile, nodding your head.    
“Thanks.” He replied, picking up his food again.  
“But… if you don’t mind it, could I eat here again? You don’t have to call me a friend… but I’d like to just sit here and eat too, I don’t mind the silence.” Your smile stretched further across your lips, while he stared at you curiously, shrugging his shoulders.  
“If you want… it’s not like this place is mine alone.” He added, leaving your heart warm and thumping with joy.

* * *

 “Briaaaannn!” You squealed as you entered your classroom, waking up the boy who had his head buried against his desk.

“You’re loud… shut up.” His response was not unusual, words like that were at the pillar of your friendship.  
“Guess who I had lunch with!?” You shook his arm, making him raise his head with a sleepy glare.  
“If I say I don’t care will you let me finish my nap? I have about…” Brian paused to pull out his cell phone checking the time.  
“Five minutes left until class starts again…” He yawned, his head falling back to his desk.  
“No, you should already know the answer.” You sighed in content leaning back in your seat.  
“I had lunch with Dowoon and though he didn’t speak much, he’s definitely not as mean as everyone thinks he is.” You smiled at the thought of the boy, recalling your time under the shade of the tree you two sat under, enjoying the quiet.  
Brian turned his head toward you, eyes opening again to give you a curious stare.

“Congratulations, you made progress.” He said with another yawn following. Brian half-heartedly supported your enthusiasm on making new friends, even if it was with someone he didn’t particularly care for.  
“Thanks!” You smiled with a nod, proud of your small accomplishment. You hoped that one day soon Dowoon would open up a little more to those around him.  
The next day during lunch, you found Dowoon drawing instead of eating. When you sat down next to him you noticed him shrink away concealing his artwork and you respected that he didn’t want you to see it. He drew in silence and you ate your meal, humming a tune that had been in your head all day while you admired the flowers, your eyes missing how his dark irises scanned over your every detail while his pencil moved against the paper.  
It was the third day during midday when Dowoon finally made conversation with you, his deep voice sending warm vibrations directly to your chest.  
“What’s your favorite subject…?” His ears were red as he spoke and you wondered if he was a little shy.  
“Umm… literature! You?” You grinned, taking a bite of a doughnut, you brought from home. Dowoon looked as if he was pondering your answer before he answered in return.

“Hm, art…” He nodded, looking over at the sketch pad sitting next to him.  
“I’d love to see your artwork if you’re ever comfortable with showing me.”  
You didn’t expect Dowoon to open his sketchbook so quickly and reveal to you a set of creative drawings consisting of the garden scenery and even the interior of the school. He was so talented it almost made you envious.  
“Woah!” You exclaimed, startling him a bit with how loud you were.   
“Sorry!” You apologized with a giggle. “You’re really good.” You leaned in close to absorb every aspect of his pencil sketches.  
“Thank you for sharing these with me.” You beamed. Dowoon nodded slowly, cheeks burning. You were something else, trying to slowly drag him out of his shell and he could feel himself each day appreciate your presence more even if he didn’t express it well. It was nice having someone by his side again, at least for a bit.

It was a calm evening, the soft glow of a lamp located at his bedside highlighted his features in the dark. Dowoon sat on the edge of his bed, eyes brimming with tears as he stared at his calendar on the door. Tomorrow marked the end of school for the week, bringing on the weekend which would soon fade into Monday. And that’s when he would forget. Dowoon would lose all good memories he made during the week, each minute he spent with you or anyone else would be wiped clear from his mind as if it never existed.  
His life for the last three years had been a constant cycle of reset and it hurt, which is why he no longer let anyone get close to him.  
“I’m sorry.” He mumbled an apology with the thought of you in his mind, it was time for him to repair the walls you had quickly managed to break through.  
The following day was bleak, gray skies were accompanied by small breezes of wind, but it wasn’t too much of a downer to keep you from the garden at lunch time, technically there weren’t any weather reports of rain. You spotted Dowoon standing this time, his back facing you as he stared up at the tree, and you wondered what he was doing, or even thinking about.  
You approached him and he glanced over his shoulder at you.

“Stop.” His icy voice had you freezing in your tracks.

“I don’t want you here.” He turned his gaze back to the tree, bitterness dripping from his tone.  
“I seriously want to be left alone from now on Y/n…, so please don’t come out here. I can’t make friends no matter how much I want to…” He muttered.  
You stared at him, his posture seemed so defeated and he gave off a sadness that had your brows creasing in concern. For the last few days, you assumed you were making progress in befriending him and now it seemed like everything was drifting back to square one. You stood silently, still trying to form the right words to combat his dismissal of you.  
“Each Monday…” Dowoon began speaking again, this time he turned around to look you in the eyes.  
“My memories of those who try to get close to me disappear. I reset without wanting to, leaving people too freaked out to want to be near me.” He exhaled.  
“That’s so unreal.” You responded, what he was saying was preposterous. A person’s memories resetting was something you’ve never heard of before, it was unimaginable.   
You let Dowoon walk away from you after that and it was the first time you decided to give up for once.

* * *

 “Are you really giving up on him?” You listened to Brian’s disembodied voice over the phone as you laid in bed, sighing.

“Definitely not like you Y/n.” He added. You could hear loud sounds blaring from the other end which meant he was playing his evening video games.  
“The vibe I got from him this time was serious Brian… the other times he shot me down it was different.” You whined.  
“But remember, I can’t make friends no matter how much I want to,” Brian repeated what you told him earlier, his voice mimicking Dowoon’s deep tone as best he could.  
“He wants to make friends, but there has to be something keeping him from doing so and if memory loss is it, then believe him.” Brian always offered you the best advice. He did well at lifting you up from a sea of misery and doubts and he was a reason why you kept pushing forward and remaining positive in any given situation.  
“You’re right. Come Monday I’ll try again and take things slow. I just don’t want him to feel alone…everyone needs a friend.”

Dowoon opened his eyes, raising his head from his desk. He had gotten to school early enough to prolong sleep and now his classmates were beginning to file into the room. He got out his books in preparation for class to start, flipping open his sketch pad accidentally. He noticed a picture perfectly drawn of a girl in the garden that he didn’t remember ever drawing before. The male recognized her as his classmate but he couldn’t recall any time spent with her.  
A result of his memory resetting.

“Dowoon!” A voice called out to him. He jerked his head around quickly to see you standing there but he was confused. He had never spoken to you before so why were you speaking to him?  
When your eyes met your heart stopped Dowoon stared at you as if he was meeting a stranger and slowly the realization from his words last week really settled in, you believed him now.  
His eyes were genuine enough that it pierced you and it was saddening knowing he had to live with forgetting anything good to happen to him.  
“Uh… what do you want…?” Dowoon asked, one brow raised as he waited for your reply.  
You flashed him a broad smile and shook away the melancholy that almost grabbed hold of you.  
“Yoon Dowoon, will you be my friend?”

If Dowoon’s memory resets each week, you didn’t mind becoming his friend repeatedly.  
No matter what you were going to build him a garden of memories and help him remember everything little by little.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by an anime I really enjoyed and I hoped it was enjoyable to read!


End file.
